Day 310- Ad Dekkers- Geometric Relief

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It’s Day 310 and I had a great time creating today’s piece. I worked entirely with wood pieces and made a somewhat architectural piece, working with squares and rectangles only. It was geometrical…algebraic even! 😉 Okay, joking aside, I had a wonderful zen-esque experience. Join me in honoring Ad Dekkers today.

Dekkers was born to Hendrik Pieter Dekkers, a school principal, and Anna Elizabeth Berdina Godtschalk. Adrian attended his father’s school and also received training as a decorative painter. Between 1954 and 1958 he studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in

Ad Dekkers, Reliëf met zwarte driehoeken

Rotterdam where he was mostly engaged in drawing of landscapes and still images. In February 1960 Dekkers entered military service, and in December 1961 married Machelina Hendrika van Bruggen, with whom he had one son.

Since early 1960s Dekkers became dissatisifed with painting and focused on reliefs, mostly made of plastic. By 1968 he was recognized as a master in this area and started creating monumental sculptures and reliefs in architectural environment.

Ad Dekkers – Relief met afgeschuinde blokjes

His works became accepted at major international exhibitions, such as the Biennale de Paris in 1965, São Paulo Art Biennial in 1967 and documenta in Kassel in 1968. He also had a number of solo exhibitions in the Netherlands. After his death in 1974, his works were exhibited in Eindhoven and Düsseldorf and placed in museums in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England and the United States.

Dutch artist, born in Nieuwpoort. Studied at the Academy in Rotterdam 1954-8.

Ad Dekkers Verschoven Kwadraten 1965

Began to make reliefs in 1961 influenced partly by Mondrian, built out of layers of flat geometric shapes and with asymmetrical compositions. Then abandoned the use of colour and began to work entirely in white.

Ad Dekkers, Variaties op cirkels IV

First one-man exhibition with Jan van Munster at the Galerie De Drie Hendricken, Amsterdam, 1963. From about 1965 his reliefs became more systematic and linear, constructed out of fewer planes or with lines cut into a flat surface; they were often based on the transformation of one regular geometric shape into another, such as a square into a circle. Also made some three-dimensional sculptures from 1968. Died in Gorinchem.

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I hope you enjoy my piece today. I think the one thing I should’ve done more was sanding down the wood pieces, but I like my design. I wanted to capture his style, but also retain something unique. I will see you tomorrow on Day 311!